Self-isolation Inspiration: Book, TV and Music recommendations from the Gather Round community

Need a little downtime inspiration whilst you’re hunkering down at home? We’ve all found ourselves with a little more time on our hands, and whether you’ve already finished your book list or watched the entirety of Netflix, we thought we could all benefit from some fresh recommendations to keep us entertained over the next few weeks. We asked a few of our members to share the TV shows they’re binge-watching, the books they can’t put down and their favourite tunes currently on nonstop repeat…

📚 Pretty Much Everything by Aaron James Draplin. Draplin is a familiar face on the design speaking scene, a lovely guy with a very industrial style to his logo work.

📺 I’ve been smashing the Disney+ like a total man-child. The animation, set design and lighting… good god the lighting… in Incredibles 2 totally blew me away!

🎧 GOSSIPMONGERS podcast is one of the funniest podcasts I’ve ever listened to. Each week they read through far fetched rumours submitted by listeners, decide which is the best, open the window and shout it down the street!

In terms of music, I’ve had Everyday by Tourist on repeat. It’s a flippin’ beaut. Lovely electronic music with glitchy drum beats and distorted vocals. It’s lush. 12/10.

📚 The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. Ashamed to say I came into it with broadly negative preconceptions as to what an adventure book written in 1912 would be. Pleased to say I was wrong on many counts so far – it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s a great escape.

📚 I’m still reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson which is like a manual for life, and I’ve just started Do the F*cking Work by Brian Buirge, Jason Bacher and Jason Richburg. It’s not a conscious effort to only read books with F*ck in the title but I do appreciate the straightforward approach to language.

🎧 I’m a creature of habit. I’m slightly hooked on a few albums at the moment and have them on heavy rotation: Petals for Armor by Hayley Williams, Violet Street by Local Natives and Fine Line by Harry Styles – a real surprise for me, not all original but there are some real gems in there.

📚 The Bulletproof Diet by biohacker Dave Asprey. This may be somewhat inspired by three weeks of comfort eating and not exercising much! Alongside this, I’m also reading The Organised Mind by Daniel J. Levitin.

🎧 I’m really enjoying the silence whilst working from home, it’s great for concentration and allows me to be in the moment. There are a few audiobooks which I’m quite enjoying: Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke – making smarter decisions when you don’t have all the facts and Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath – why some ideas survive and others die.

Image credit: GIPHY

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So there you go, from dystopian literature to potato crisp conspiracies: there’s plenty to keep you entertained here for the next few weeks. If you’re craving a new soundtrack for your day’s spent working from home, we’ve pulled together this playlist featuring the songs and artists mentioned in this blog post.